This article originally ran in the Summer 1965 issue of Zoo View, the quarterly publication of the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association.
The 360-pound cat recently developed a serious internal infection which did not respond to drugs injected by an automatic syringe projector. An operation was necessary.
After Dr. Charles J. Sedgwick, Zoo veterinarian, had given Tuffy a strong sedative in preparation for abdominal surgery, the lioness began having great difficulty breathing because the “roaring tissues” were actually suffocating her.
If Tuffy, the 16-year-old African lioness, had been living in her natural habitat, she’d be dead now. However, thanks to modern science, the old girl has been snatched from certain death.
A trachea tube was placed in the animal’s windpipe and Dr. Sedgwick administered artificial respiration by breathing into the tube.
At this point, a 3V Resuscitator donated by Philip L. Stanton, Stanton Scientific, Glendale, was pressed into service. The resuscitator automatically took over the breathing for the animal and Dr. Sedgwick, assisted by Dr. Nathan Gale, the Zoo’s assistant director, completed the operation.
Suffice it to say, not only was the operation a success—the patient lived.
This article originally ran in the Summer 1965 issue of Zoo View, the award-winning quarterly publication of the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association. A subscription is complimentary with every level of membership.